Is Anyone Here Generally OK With Guitar Center?

[My name is Mudd]

I too have no issues with GC, and in one regard I'm actually grateful that there's even one in town; the other in-town option (note the singular) is a locally-owned outfit that has been in and out of business at least twice in the past five years, due to family squabbling and generally poor management. And when they are open, they're expensive! After them, it's 50 miles in one direction, 75 miles in the other direction, and/or the 'net.

THB, I'm quite sure that corp. put one here so as to have a presence in the county; Tulare County is about 95% agriculture with only three 'cities' to begin with, the largest being here w/just over 120K population. That said, the GC here has been very good to me...the staff recognizes me and knows my name; the new-ish general manager made a point of introducing himself to me when he started there; a couple of the guitar guys have become personal friends. I fully understand that some stores are staffed by mouth-breathing fools, but not this one.

 

[Lady Kayri]

I haven't had any problems in quite some time at GC. That being said, I also know what I can find there, which 'sales associates' can give me the best help, and I don't look or ask for stuff that I know they probably aren't going to have. As someone above said, "It is what it is" and if you keep that in mind, you won't have too many problems. (Unless of course you get one of the sales associates who doesn't know his elbow from his knee...)

 

[jaywa]

I think one thing you have to give GC credit for is that they will let virtually anyone, of any age or ability level, get "hands on" experience with a broad range of gear ranging from barely passable starter instruments right up to U.S. made Fenders, MusicMans and other "pro grade" gear.

For young kids / newbies this is important because the mom-and-pop stores, while often preferred by more veteran musicians, can for the same reasons be an uncomfortable or downright intimidating venue for "newbies". I'm a 45-year old with 31 years of playing experience, but when I was 15 and just starting out, no way would I have felt comfortable going into my local mom-and-pop and plunking around on their most expensive axes in the place. Nor would they have been thrilled to have me make that request.

At least at GC these kids are getting their hands on real instruments (vs. Guitar Hero simulators and that rot), and experiencing what various grades of quality sound and feel like.

 

[john grey]

Any store can have a differing "flavor" depending upon the local mid-management and the element of sales, commission, bonuses, etc. GC would like to have a standardized format of actions and behaviour but it still could have serious "bad-apples" as well as outstandingly ethical folks.


I have seen what appeared to be the use of low-light levels in rooms and the obvious use of VERY high-end amps to test or examine an instrument....Is this a setup or a means to shield a flaw? I don't know. But I DO know that the sale person will steer someone to an area of the store with low light levels and I have OFTEN seen the best amps used instead of the common practice amps....even when requested ("WE don't have that plugged in"). I cannot say whether this is totally intentional. I'm not a mind reader. But I have heard of some of these issues from employees themselves.

On the other hand their return policy superficially appears quite ethical....(?)

The Tucson GC is a moderate sized store & there was guy there who I knew socially & jammed with, etc. This guy was a bit older (like me) and had (IMO) an incredible sense of humor; to such an extent that he eventually got canned. But he was seriously funny! Suffice to say he made me laugh so much I had to sit down occasionally. Unfortunately sales is a serious business. What was interesting here is that he [as an employee] had said that he had ethical issues with some of the sales agenda {selling problematic instruments & not mentioning it; hoping the purchaser would not notice}. He once told me to look for higher priced instruments that had collected dust and was hanging in the store for a long time; he claimed that there was a good chance it had a problem of significant proportion & that would not be reveled unless returned or whatever.

 

[Brad Johnson]

No problems here. Found way more than my share of ridiculous deals and I don't go there to get info so I'm not really relying on salespeople for that.

 

[LIONFURY]

My local guitar center is actually rather nice. I've used it countless times

 

[kokoshmusun]

I bought an Akai delay pedal and a hard guitar case, and figured out upon returning home that both had been used (but were sold to me under the guise of brand new). I returned them, they took it back without a word.

 

[Bongolation]

I'm OK with GC, but I'm not OK with the nearly 10% sales tax I have to pay if I buy something there.

In the old pre-Bain days, I'd find the best online shipped price I could find and they'd match it, including the tax, on the assumption that if the online seller was eating shipping, they'd eat the tax on a local sale.

Fair enough, I bought a ton of stuff there. Why not?

They won't do that for me any more for some reason, so now I buy 95% of my stuff online.

Their loss.

 

[bassgod76]

I'd rather give my money to smaller local places, but my favorite luthier currently works at GC in West Palm.

 

[Darknut]

The guys that work at The GC near me are all pretty cool & I buy strings & things on a regular basis .. I even bought VM Jazz Fretless from them & they're cool about letting you try sh*t out.

 

[agreatheight]

Guitar Center is a necessary evil.

 

[Reaper Man]

no problem generally with them- bought my first bass from there. Haven't bought another from there but that's mainly because I deal mainly with the classifieds here

I'll agree with the "boring" aspect, some have a larger bass selection, some have smaller, that's about it. Sometimes you can find something interested in the used section though, but not normally

 

[bassbully]

Yep! I have made some great deals and trades, made some good friends there too. It's been a while since I have been in there thou. You have to know how to deal with people, know your product and have a basic idea of how retail works and then you are A-OK

 

[lowendgenerator]

I just bought a GK neo 410 from GC, and they were awesome about it. Even though it had been out on the floor for just a few days, they gave me the 10% off floor model price, AND threw in a 6 foot GK branded 4 pin speakon cable!

I would have purchased it from my local shop, but A: they didn't have one in stock, and B: they wanted substantially more to order one. Sometimes you gotta dance with the devil to get what you need.

 

[klejst]

We just got a Guitar Center around where I live and it has been opened for a little over a month now and I have still yet to make my way there. It is a little bit of a drive, plus the music store I normally go to for strings and such is actually on the same road along the way. I have a friend who just got a job there so I will have to check it out one of these days. I have ordered somethings from Guitar Centers outside of my state and had the items shipped and my experience with them in that manner was awesome, but I guess it depends on the store and who works there. I have heard from others that most employees at GC are gear snobs or just blow hards and junkies, however I know that cannot be the same everywhere. Sure GC can be seen as a dump point for used gear and guitars, however it also then caters to people who cannot afford to buy new all the time and get great deals on some pretty nice stuff. So I can say so far I have no problems or anything really bad to say about GC, but to each his own I suppose.

 

[bassgod76]

I think Sam Ash is terrible compared to GC.

 

[TripleDouble]

I had no problem until recently Joey started calling 3x a week to try to get me to add their extended warranty to my powered monitors.

 

[pbass888]

i ve bot in their vintage room and the guys were very professional (read older like me) and I was able to work a price down for a good deal on a bass (after doing my homework of course). Also they helped me open up the instrument took it apart so I could verify the pots pups neck stamp etc... Really a professional group, felt like I was in an old local shop and we spent about 2 hours working on my purchase. I cant say Ive had the same service in the main part of the store but I find online better deals so I dont really deal with them.

 

[Al3x]

They're not bad. I would buy from this local store that's completely devoted to basses, but generally their prices are to expensive.

Pretty much every bass I've gotten (one...Wait, just one?!?) is from there, and I *may* go get a used Epi Goth Thunderbird today, but the store in Austin is pretty cool.

Really the only time I've ever had issues was when a string on my acoustic guitar (gasp!) broke. So we went to the accessories section and the guy who was ringing up our stuff was trying to sell us more stuff... he would've made an excellent con-man.

But aside from that, everyone there is totally friendly. One time, the pick-ups on my bass weren't working and the replaced the battery for it (it was active pick-ups) nad they didn't charge us for it.

So, yeah they're pretty awesomesauce.

 

[jdepriest]

I HATE HATE HATE the Pittsburgh, Pa store in Robinson Township. To be far I HATE one guy that works there but his attitude was so bad I’ll never shop there as long as he is still works there.

My wife bought me this for my birthday a last year.

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Sales guy in the acoustic room was awesome. He told us if it needed any set up tweaks after a few weeks bring it back and the in-house repair guy would take care of it free of charge. After a few weeks I noticed a few buzzes. It was nothing major, truss rod adjustment and 1 high fret, all work I could do myself but I’m lazy and I had the guys word they would take care of it.

I get to the store and they send me to the repair dude, I’ll call him Dumbass. He look like a early 20’s stoner, think Beeves with lots of tats. There’s another customer picking up his Strat copy in line in front of me who asks a pretty reasonable question:
Strat Guy – “I live I a log cabin and heat my place with a wood stove. During the day is gets really cold inside and when I come home and get the stove going it gets pretty warm. Can those quick temperature changes hurt the guitar?”

Dumbass – “Don’t leave it on a guitar stand cause if it gets knock over the headstock could get knock off and that would be an expensive repair”

Strat Guy – Long pause……..”Thanks” and leaves.

I’m a little worried but I go ahead and show Dumbass the problem. He proceeds to slam Ibanez as crap equipment and tells me the acoustic room guys are all idiots and don’t know what they are doing. He tells me the truss rod and the high fret isn’t the problem. I need a new bridge and maybe a new neck. He could send it back to Ibanez since its warranty work but “their shop sucks. I can do you work but it wouldn’t be covered and would cost around $300.00 bucks.”

I take my bass home, fix it myself in about 10 minutes and it’s worked perfectly for 2 years and now I tell everyone I know this story and not to shop at that location.